Auto stocks managed to buck the overall negative trend on the back of a surprise rise in February sales. BSE Auto was the only sectoral index trading marginally in the green. The benchmark Sensex is down over 2% or 174 points at 174.

At 12 noon, BSE Auto index was trading at 2604, up a marginal 7 points. Eight of the index constituents advanced, as against six losers. Sector heavyweights including Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda Motors and M&M wer all up in the range of 1-3% each. Maruti Suziki, however, was trading marginally in the red at Rs 644.10, down 0.77%. Interestingly, the auto index has gained close to 5% in the last one month,

According to reports, car sales in India snapped a four-month slide and rose 21.8% in February from a year earlier. Auto companies sold 1.15 lakh cars during February, compared with 94,757 in the same period last year. However, sales of trucks and buses fell 31.7% to 31,069 units.

The export scenario has also picked up in the recent months, with Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai posting a surge in exports. Maruti logged an impressive 89.87% rise in exports in February 2009 compared with the previous year, while Hyundai’s exports grew by 18.3% in the same period. Analysts point out that compact cars contribute as high as 80% of the total car exports from India.

Meanwhile, export of passenger cars during the first 10 months of the financial year 2008-09 stood at 2.72 units compared with 1.67 units in the same period last year. Analysts say that the exports of compact cars are growing at around 30%.